How to lose a customer

On Sunday evening, I ordered a hard disk from dabs.com. The price was good, and I’ve bought from them before, so it seemed like an easy decision. It turned out to be a terrible online shopping experience, and a cautionary tale of how not to run an online shop.

I had to update my billing details, which was a bit of a pain—a dozen pages of clicking typing and waiting—but it seemed to work out. I placed the order, and looked forward to receiving my purchase.

Late on Monday morning, I decided to see how the order was progressing. Had they packed it? Had they despatched it?

No such luck. Apparently, my account was ‘on hold’, because they hadn’t managed to charge my card. Did they tell me this? What do you think? A courtesy email would have been nice—and would have cost them nothing—but they didn’t bother to inform me. I had to find it out myself.

I updated my billing details once again, making sure that they were correct, and resubmitted the order. This time, the status page informed me that my order was awaiting address validation. A link offered the clarification that this should take two hours at most.

Close to four hours later, I received an email from dabs.com Address Check:

Dear Mr Battley

Thank you for your order placed on 14/09/08

You have received this email because we were unable to confirm the details of your address.

Please note that if you do not action this email within 5 working days we will not be able to process this order and will cancel it on your behalf

Please email the following details to webaccounts@dabs.com

1) The address to which your credit/debit card is registered exactly as shown on your statement.

2) Your landline telephone number and a daytime contact telephone number.

3) Full confirmation of the delivery address including recipients name, company name if applicable and relationship with this address.

Er, what? I replied:

Why should I waste my time entering exactly the same details I’ve already entered on the website?

Congratulations on a lost sale. I’m going to buy from someone who’ll actually take my money.

And I did. My purchase from ebuyer.com was far less onerous, and I consider the extra couple of quid a fair trade to avoid dabs.com’s muppetry. I shan’t be wasting my time on them in the future: they’ve won a pyrrhic victory over fraud if they drive away even legitimate existing customers.

Update: I received an email from ebuyer.com at 19:04 UTC to say that they’ve despatched my order. That’s less time than it took dabs.com to prevaricate over my address.

2008-09-15 16:21 UTC. Comments: 8.

Comments

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  1. Mogsog

    Wrote at 2008-09-15 23:24 UTC using Firefox 3.0.1 on Windows XP:

    I have always used ebuyer.com and aria.co.uk and rate them both excellent computer component wholesalers kudos on the choice Paul and bad luck with dabs!

  2. Irregular Shed

    Wrote at 2008-09-16 09:22 UTC using Firefox 3.0.1 on Windows XP:

    I used to use Dabs a lot, and then they jerked me around a few years ago and I haven’t been back – almost identical to the experience you had.

    I’ve used eBuyer for a long time as well, and have found them to be more than adequate – not brilliant, but good enough for me to keep going back. Their weak point has traditionally been using City Link, but over the past 12 months they seem to have improved markedly.

  3. Strawp

    Wrote at 2008-09-16 10:42 UTC using Firefox 3.0.2 on Windows XP:

    Same as Irregular Shed. If you think they’re bad when you try and order something, you don’t want to see what they’re like when you try and return an item.

    Utterly abhorrent customer service.

  4. Richard

    Wrote at 2008-09-20 21:53 UTC using Opera 9.51 on Linux:

    I had the exact same experience with dabs.com and I wrote to tell them they were awful. I wanted to buy a laser pointer / bluetooth mouse for a presentation I was giving, and after messing around with entering my details into their HTTPS website, picking two new passwords, I get an email a day later asking me to send them all my details again in clear text by email because they can’t verify me.!??

    I went down to Micro Anvika and probably paid £5~£10 over the odds for a similar item, but at least the people working there were polite, prompt, and didn’t waste my time with a purchase system melt-down.

  5. Ed

    Wrote at 2008-09-21 03:14 UTC using Firefox 3.0.1 on Mac OS X:

    I always use ebuyer too. Prices are good and I’ve only ever had one problem with anything bought from them and they were very quick to deal with it, collect it and send me a new one.

    Crucial I use for memory and are perhaps the best company I’ve dealt with online – fast website, fast (next day normally) free delivery and good phone support.

  6. Floehopper

    Wrote at 2008-09-22 19:09 UTC using Firefox 3.0.2 on Mac OS X:

    Bad luck. It might be worth an entry on here – http://getsatisfaction.com/dabs

  7. Chris

    Wrote at 2008-10-16 13:20 UTC using Firefox 3.0.1 on Windows XP:

    Dabs as always had bad service, more so now they got rid of the customer shop and rely on machines.

    Also I had to hassle them when I hav retured items for follow up.

    I find http://www.scan.co.uk also located in Bolton more reliable.

  8. Simon

    Wrote at 2009-03-16 13:40 UTC using Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows XP:

    This is still going on with Dabs.com

    On Friday 13th March 2009 I ordered two hard drives and a router from Dabs.com. I have placed many orders with them over the last few years. My order went through. Later I received an email saying they needed to check my address and could I answer some more questions. I sent a reply staright away and checked on my order status later that day. The items had been put on hold due to an address issue.

    At this point I phoned my bank who said Dabs had taken the money and then returned it. My delivery address was the same as my home address so I thought this was odd. I then phoned Dabs who said they couldn’t deal with it by phone and I should email them. By now I was getting annoyed as I wanted the items the following day. I used the instant message box on Dabs and was told it would take at least 24 hours for someone to get back to me.

    I then emailed a complaint to them, as of Monday 16th March at 1.4opm I haven’t received a reply and my order shows “totally cancelled”.

    You would think in a recession companies would be glad to take my money. It seems Dabs don’t want my business.

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